CHAPTER 8

Year: 04/9/2525

Planet: Sargasso

Location: Fairfield City, 4th precinct outskirts, Spencer Estate.

‘Come on, Amaranth, ten more! Remember, keep your stomach off the ground, abs tight, and back straight!’ screamed Nightstalker.

Amaranth gritted her teeth, sweat poured down her brow as she pushed herself up off the ground with one hand. Her arm burned with pain as underdeveloped muscles did their best to support her. After returning home from her somewhat eventful nightly patrol, at 4:30 AM or 0430 military time, Amaranth immediately changed into the closest thing she had to workout clothes, a pair of white jogging pants and a white undershirt. She then began her workout with stretching and then calisthenics.

The plan was that every day after returning from patrol, she would do 100 reps of the following: Push-ups, one-arm push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, one-arm pull-ups, chin-ups, one-arm chin-ups, squats, one-leg squats, and planks. Admittedly, Amaranth was a little intimidated by the large number of reps she was going to have to do, but if that’s what she has to do, so be it. Fortunately, Nightstalker didn’t make her do it all at once, splitting them into sets of 10 with the goal of being able to do a hundred reps in a row by the end of the month and two sets of a hundred by the end of the six months. The only thing that stressed Amaranth instinctively was Nightstalker constantly correcting her form until she got it right.

She started with pull-ups and at first, Amaranth could barely do five pull-ups, exhausting her body to the point where she was shaky, sacrificing form to complete a rep. Nightstalker quickly admonished her and told her to redo every incorrect rep after giving her a break. That’s when Nightstalker’s healing ability kicked in and in under a minute, the gelatinous heavy feeling in her body went away, replaced by the energy she felt before and then some. As she continued down the exercise list, repeating the process of exhaustion and rejuvenation, she went from barely being able to do one of each exercise to being able to do 20 sets of 5. She always took a 5-minute break between pushup sets. By the time she got to the last set of push-ups, she was exhausted.

“97… 99… 100!” Amaranth grunted out as she pushed herself up and rolled to her back. She breathed in and out, her lungs feeling like they were on fire, and her arms feeling like gelatin filled with lead, but, as before, the feeling ebbed away, though a bit slower than before. Honestly, she felt good—no, better than good.

‘Good job, you did better than expected, but tomorrow you’ll start 10x10 sets. Now, go get something to eat and get some sleep. It's important that you eat and get the proper amount of rest for maximum results.’ said Nightstalker.

Amaranth sat herself up and wiped the sweat from her brow. She crinkled as bleach and an onion-like stench assaulted it. She sniffed her sweat-stained undershirt and gagged, making a mental note to take a good long shower. Within that moment, Amaranth keeled over onto her knees as an intense stabbing pain assaulted her stomach accompanied by a loud growl. “AAHHHH, I know you said I’ll be ravenous, but-” Amaranth got to her feet clutching her stomach. “Damn, I didn’t… expect… This,” she said through gritted teeth. It felt like her stomach was trying to eat itself.

‘I’m accelerating the protein synthesis process; your body is using a large number of calories to heal and strengthen your muscle fibers. Right now, you’re nearing empty,’

“I can tell,” Amaranth gritted out. She stumbled out the door and down the stairs, hurrying straight for the kitchen. Ignoring everything, she went straight for the pantry located by the stove. She swung the door open looking side to side then up and down for a saving grace from her ravenous hunger. She put cans and boxes aside until she found what she was looking for, several stacks of canned protein. It was a type of cheap food with a day's worth of calories and nutrients in each can. Amy and Jon would mix them with better-tasting food to increase their nutritional value. Amaranth grabbed several cans and a plastic spoon and sat at the kitchen table. She popped the top of one can and wolfed down the bland and gelatinous calorie and nutrient-dense food.

Amaranth didn’t bother chewing, for the most part, gorging down pieces of the slimy gelatinous bland foodstuff satiating her hunger.

‘Slow down, you’ll choke,’ warned Nightstalker.

Amaranth didn't listen, and after eating four cans of the bland gelatine, she leaned back looking up at the ceiling. After a moment she wiped her mouth with a paper towel. “That’s better,” she said before a burp forced its way out. “Excuse me.”

‘This canned protein will help greatly with your new caloric needs,’ commented Nightstalker.

Amaranth slid her tongue along the roof of her mouth scraping off the almost waxy residue left over from her breakfast. “I just wish this stuff tastes better on its own.”

“Daisy, what’s going on here? It's 6:45 in the morning.”

Daisy sat up and saw Jon standing by the doorway with a confused and surprised expression on his face. “Oh, Good morning, Dad, I… I… Ummm, I was hungry, so I decided to get some breakfast. Sorry, if I woke you.”

Jon tucked a loose flap of his white undershirt into his black gym shorts, a habit he picked up from his military days. He would at times mention how he missed the days when loose clothing felt right. “No, no, it’s alright. Your Mother and I were just getting out of bed when we heard your room door open and you running down the stairs. Your mother wasn’t feeling well, so I told her that I’d come down and check on you.”

“Is she alright?” asked Amaranth, alarmed.

“Don’t worry, she said the pizza she ate last night didn’t agree with her,” assured Jon as he looked at the cans on the table then at her sweat-stained shirt. “Did you eat all this food? And why is your shirt covered in sweat? You look like you ran a marathon.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Sorry, I’ll clean it up. I just finished doing some calisthenics, two reps of everything minus pull-ups and chin-ups, and it built up quite an appetite,” fibbed Amaranth as she cleaned up her mess off the table. She set the cans quietly in the small white trashcan by the pantry.

Jon blinked slowly a couple of times before folding his arms and frowned making the wrinkles under his eyes more pronounced. “Daisy, I thought we would wait for the doctor’s approval.”

Amaranth rubbed the back of her head and grimaced. “Sorry, Dad, I was just so excited to get started, and I figured some calisthenics wouldn’t hurt.”

Jon’s face softened, and he unfolded his arms. “Daisy, I’m not angry, just worried. In fact, I’m proud you're taking initiative-” Jon looked towards the trash can and the cans. “It must’ve been quite a workout for you to build such an appetite. Frankly, I'm surprised you're not more sore,”

“Yeah,” said Amaranth before grabbing her right arm feinting a wince. “Eh, guess I’m still a little sore.”

Jon let out a small chuckle. “I remember eating eight cans a day when I was trying to build up my strength. I don’t miss that soreness throughout my body after every workout. Now, be careful how much you eat. Don’t want to upset your stomach and you’ll likely have an easier time gaining weight now.”

Amaranth let out a chuckle. ‘You have no idea,’ That’s when Amaranth thought about the implications of her rapid physical conditioning outside of herself. It was one thing to suddenly be healed from a terminal illness, but it's probably another matter when said ex-terminally ill girl suddenly looked like she could benchpress a truck.

‘They witness you being healed from what should’ve been terminal, so your rapid progression will just be another anomaly. As long as you don’t go too hard and fake being tired, you’ll be alright. I believe the human saying ‘Fake it til you make it.’ and ‘Play it cool.’ fit what I’m trying to say. Also, since your father is here, now might be a good time to ask about learning self-defense,’ said Nightstalker.

‘I agree, but how am I going to segway into it? I can’t tell him the real reason.’

‘Think, Amaranth. You can figure it out. What reason from your past can you use? Perhaps a certain event?’ hinted Nightstalker.

Amaranth knew what Nightstalker was talking about, but the thought of using that to essentially manipulate Daisy’s parents made her stomach churn.

“Hey, Daisy, are you in there?” asked Jon.

Amaranth blinked. “Oh sorry, and don’t worry, Dad. I’ll be careful.” Amaranth paused. “Hey, Dad, can I ask you something?”

“Of course, you can ask me anything,” he said, walking to the table and taking a seat. “Is something the matter?”

Amaranth returned to her seat and squirmed. “Well… I was wondering if you could… I want to learn how to defend myself… and how to use a… gun,” she squeaked the last part out.

Jon shrugged. “OK.”

“I understand-” Amaranth stopped. “Wait, what?”

Jon chuckled. “After your kidnapping, your mother and I didn’t want that to happen to you again, so we discussed putting you in self-defense classes and me teaching you some extra lessons, but then your condition worsened.” Jon’s face sagged, making him seem older than he really was before brightening up again.

“But, that’s no longer the case, and we started talking about it again. We both agree that if the doctor gives the OK I’ll teach you what I know and sign you up for classes with your friends. They aren’t that far ahead of you, so it shouldn't take long for you to catch up if you put in the time to practice. ”

Amaranth's face brightened with elation, she was another step closer to her goal.

“Now, about you learning about using a firearm. It's something I brought up with your mother and we’re still discussing it. I understand learning self-defense, but why do you want to learn how to shoot?” asked Jon, his face taking on a more grave expression. Amaranth rolled her jaw; what reasoning could she give for wanting to learn?

“Well, you know, better to have the skill and not need it rather than need it and not have it. Also, what if I confront someone bigger and stronger than me with nowhere to run? Also, why stop at pistols? That’s why I want to learn, and not just pistols, but also other guns,” Amaranth shrugged. “I was online, and saw an article on range shooting and thought it was interesting,” Of course that wasn’t the whole truth, but hopefully, it was believable enough.

‘Quickly thought up and still fairly logically, good job,’ praised Nightstalker.

‘I’m still lying to them.’

‘A necessary evil as you humans would say.’

Amaranth resisted a snort. ‘The most abused phrase by every anime villain. Not calling you one, by the way.’

‘Don’t really care,’ it paused. ‘But thanks.’

Jon hummed and rubbed his five o'clock shadow in thought. “That’s good reasoning and quite ambitious. I’ll be glad to teach you. In fact, my dad taught me when I was your age. I could take you to the range, but keep in mind that your mother and I are still discussing this, so there are no guarantees. ”

Jon’s face then turned grave and evoked a seriousness that she never saw in him before causing Amaranth to stiffen. His back straightened, making it seem even bigger. He looked like he jumped out of his old military photos. “Now, if I do teach you how to shoot, let me be clear, you need to follow everything I tell you to the letter. These are weapons, not toys. You can accidentally seriously injure or even kill a person if mishandled. If I say jump, you ask how high. Do you understand?”

Amaranth reeled back, slightly taken by surprise. She understood why Jon was so sober about the subject. He was in the Marines. Though he rarely talked about it, Amaranth knew just by learning about Operation TREBUCHET from her History tutor that he saw firsthand what these weapons could do—what they did to him and his brothers in arms. Amarnath regained her wits and straightened, trying to show how serious she was about this.

“Yes, Dad, I understand,” she said evenly.

Jon relaxed, returning to his usual quirky self. “OK, Daisy, I’m sorry if I scared you, but I was trying to convey how seriously I want you to take this. Understand that I only did it because I care.”

Amaranth’s hands clenched her jogging shorts, and she suddenly found it hard to swallow. More love she stole from Daisy. Amaranth coughed in an attempt to suppress the lump in her throat. “I… I… I understand you don’t have to apologize.” She then yawned, stretching her arms and body, feeling the need for sleep spreading across her body. She needed to get a little sleep; otherwise, she doubted she could make it through the day, even with Nightstalker. “I think I’ll go back to bed.”

Jon nodded. “Alright, later, I will give you some reading material to help you. Also, at 0930, I want you to do some homework and study,” said Jon with a smile in response to Amaranth's sour face at the mention of homework. “Just because a miracle happened doesn’t mean you get a day off from schoolwork. I or your mom will knock when it's time for you to start.”

“Alright, lo-.” For a moment, Amaranth hesitated but covered it with a forced yawn. “Love you too, Dad,” She said, the words feeling like ash on her tongue. They were true but came from a guilt-ridden soul.

With that, she got up and went straight to her room. As soon she entered, she plopped onto her bed and let Nightstalker lull her into the painless embrace of sleep.